U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,004 ("Nagata") discloses a process for the production of a fermenting material which comprises using 5-100% by weight of a dried gluten product and 0-95% by weight of wheat as a raw material, adding steam to the material to adjust the moisture content upon granulating to within a critical range of 12-18%, and granulating the material followed by steaming. The initially dry gluten product used in Nagata includes dried wheat gluten product, dried corn gluten product and the like. The steaming step is said to denature the wheat gluten. The adjustment of moisture content to the required range is considered to facilitate the granulation of the gluten dough, which upon steaming, gives rise to satisfactory denaturation of protein. Nagata states that if more than 18% or less than 12% moisture is imparted on the dough via steaming, granulation would not be possible.
In addition, Nagata cites a number of Japanese references disclosing various processes for preparing a fermenting material using wheat gluten. The cited processes all require a denaturation step via steam treatment of the gluten dough which is formed by adding water to wheat gluten. As stated in Nagata, directly adding water to wheat gluten immediately followed by steaming leads to inefficient denaturation of the gluten dough. This occurs because the inner portion of the large dough mass obtained from a process according to the cited references cannot be effectively denatured by steaming.
On the other hand, when steam is directly added to a dried gluten product, as when saturated steam is added to a dried vital wheat gluten, undesirable hard lumps form which have to be sieved away. This causes an additional processing step and loss of materials. Also, it is quite difficult to achieve a moisture content of from 12-18% by steaming, especially on a large-scale production.
JP 62-118880 discloses a method of preparing a brewing material for koji, by heating flour to denature its protein, hydrating to a moisture content of 30 to 50%, and then granulating and steaming the material to form a product.
Thus, there exists a need for a simplified process for preparing a fermenting material that can be used for the production of fermented products such as sauces and seasonings wherein the process eliminates the need for the thermal denaturation of the gluten dough. The present invention provides such process as well as fermentation products obtained from fermenting materials that are prepared from that process.